


kissing without kissing

by BunnyBopper



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, M/M, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Wolfsbane, Wolfsbane Potion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25790776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBopper/pseuds/BunnyBopper
Summary: He couldn't understand why the man insisted on bringing the potion to him personally each night. At first, he had written it off as some kind of power play; a message that while Remus wasn't welcome in his space, Severus was more than comfortable to invade his. Or maybe the message was that he didn't trust Remus to drink it without supervision. Both those things could still play a part in it but lately, it had grown into something… difficult to define.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Comments: 20
Kudos: 129





	kissing without kissing

_We're kissing without kissing_

_We've got it down to a fine art_

_Loose Ends: Imogen Heap_

Whatever this was, they certainly had it perfected.

By now, of course, Remus has become accustomed to the feeling of dread that wrapped tighter and tighter around his chest along with the lunar cycle's steady progression. But lately, another emotion accompanied it, one he hasn't associated with a waxing moon for a long time: anticipation.

He looks at the clock again. Seven-thirty. It won't be long now.

He doesn't look at the classroom door, however. Refuses to. Busies himself with the dishearteningly large pile of essays his third years had written on kelpies. But he can't stop his heart from speeding up every time he hears the patter of footsteps grow near, or the bite of disappointment he feels when they pass by without pause.

When Remus starts to think he has read the same essay three times he wonders if he should just admit defeat along with the fact that Severus Snape was driving him to distraction. He couldn't understand why the man insisted on bringing the potion to him personally each night. At first, he had written it off as some kind of power play; a message that while Remus wasn't welcome in his space, Severus was more than comfortable to invade his. Or maybe the message was that he didn't trust Remus to drink it without supervision. Both those things could still play a part but lately, it had grown into something… difficult to define.

It was the ritual of it; that was what excited Remus the most. Those pale hands gripping the silver tray as he stepped carefully over the class room's threshold. Black eyes fixed on the goblet filled with his precious creation, his focused gaze never leaving it until the tray was safely, gently, placed upon Remus' desk. The desk that Remus was sometimes sat behind, as he was now, but usually was on the other side of the room from. (The mounting tension often causing him to pace the classroom's length, but today he had managed to resist.)

But wherever he was, Remus would be watching Severus. He would watch the shadows dance across his face, cast as it was in the potion's blue glow. He would watch the way the smoke rising from behind the goblet's rim would flicker and curve around his breath before evaporating into nothing. While Severus' focus was elsewhere, Remus would take the opportunity to drink in every part of him, yet he was always left wanting.

He didn't understand why he wanted Severus so badly and he had stopped trying to. He thought it might have something to do with the wolf inside him, that it craved the thing it was denied all those years ago, yearned to claim and devour him. Yet, in Remus' fantasies, Severus was always the one to do the claiming…

Remus shakes his head, forces himself to focus on his work. He realises that the reason he thought he had read the same essay three times is that the last two had been nearly identical to the one belonging to Hermionie Granger that he was currently marking. A quick check of the names scrawled hastily in the right-hand corners of the previous two confirmed they belonged to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

For a moment, Remus is transported back to his youth, Peter and Sirius are grinning while James gleefully reaches out to grab Remus' essay (the one he had just finished after hours of work), who hands it over with an exaggerated sigh. His lips curl into a small smile despite himself. Despite everything.

The door opens of its own accord and Severus steps through, unhurried and focused as always. Lost in memory as he was, Remus hadn't even heard his approach, he feels somehow at a disadvantage in his unpreparedness. He watches his approach, quickly assuming his role in all of this. Even though normally Remus would consider it rude not to stand when a colleague entered his classroom, he remains seated behind his desk the entire time; he likes looking at him from below.

Severus stands before him and slowly lowers the tray as has become their custom. Except for this time, his dark eyes flick up to meet Remus' before the delicate clink of silver hitting wood can be heard. The thrill it sends through Remus is electric and the sharp intake of breath it causes betrays him fully. Severus' mouth twists with the effort of suppressing a smirk.

"Good evening, Severus," Remus says (as he always does).

"Lupin," Severus responds (as he always does).

Remus clears his throat. The words should spill easily from his mouth, well-practiced as they are, but there's still a croak to his voice when he says: "I think I'd prefer to take it later... makes me awfully tired-" he gestures to the stack of unmarked essays "-and I still have plenty of work to do as you can see…"

"And _I_ would prefer you take it now. Your time management skills, or lack thereof, are not my concern."

"If you are worried I won't return your silverware I can assure you I-"

"That is not my worry." Severus puts his hands on the desk, lowers himself to the same level, and smiles strangely. "As you well know."

Remus did know, but he had to play along. Otherwise, where was the fun?

There look at each other, eyes fixed and unblinking. The air between them is thick; a heady mixture of resentment, wolfsbane, and lust. Remus is the first to break this time.

"Well, if it makes you more comfortable, Severus," he says, picking up the goblet and drinking it in one go. Severus watches the movement of his throat as he swallows.

The potion burns on the way down. Part of Remus has grown to enjoy that too. Some sort of Pavlovian association, he supposes.

He puts the goblet down hard on the desk once it's drained. Before Remus has even finished grimacing Severus is cupping a rough hand around his chin and tilting back his head. He slides a thumb over Remus' bottom lip before prising his mouth open.

Remus feels his neck stretch and pull uncomfortably as Severus tilts his head left and right, peering into his mouth all the while. He says something but all Remus can hear is the thud of his own heart beating hard and fast in his ears.

Severus lets him go all too quickly, a satisfied look on his face. Remus suspects it is less the satisfaction of a potion safely consumed and more about the reaction of the one consuming it.

He straightens up and away from Remus, picks up the goblet, and places it back on the tray. "Same time tomorrow night," he says before turning to leave.

Only when he's left does Remus bring a hand up to his lips. They prickle and burn as though they'd been kissed for hours.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote a little fic based on some song lyrics I love - it was bound to happen eventually.


End file.
